I have not been able to stop listening to this Winterland gem for the past several days. This is a thrill a minute show, but the precussion driven Jam sandwiched between the two(2) drum breaks of this Cryptical/Other One suite percolates like a fine pot of Blue Mountain.

Is 1970 THE year for high intensity free-form jamming? Who knows what happened to the China/Rider?

Cliff - I think you or elb brought this show to my attention a month or so ago, which I should thank you for. In particular, Candyman floored me - sounds like perfection to me, and vocally they are on top of their game.

4/15 is Winterland, the Miles Davis run was at the Fillmore West. I've always wondered what exists from the list given for 4/10/70, I've always suspected it is the holy grail of Alligator>Cautions (merely because it seems to be the only one listed anywhere that does not circulate).

While Miles didn't open for this particular show, it comes right after that Fillmore run, and I think they were clearly inspired by him to put some more improvisational sparkle in their shows. While the 4/9 show isn't incredibly remarkable, on 4/12 you can tell they are really in the zone and pouring out some fantastic jams. Perhaps by then they'd gotten over their embarrassment at following Miles! So it's a huge shame that a bunch of reels for the Fillmore shows went missing. I wish the audience taper on 4/9 had at least gone back the next nights! We can only sigh in sadness about 4/10 - I also sigh about 4/11, a Dark Star show in which only the (least interesting) last half-hour of the show survives.

By the way - as far as 4/10 having the only uncirculating Alligator - setlists.net claims this setlist for 9/25/70 Pasadena:

Set 1:Casey JonesMe And My UncleI'm A King BeeCryptical EnvelopmentDrumsThe Other OneCryptical EnvelopmentHigh Time

Setlists.net is not always accurate - assuming this was real, it's hard to say if this was a full-fledged Alligator, or if it just went Alligator song>drums>Lovelight with no jam, which they also did sometimes. But there's another lost Dark Star to sigh over, too.... (I wonder if it went Dark Star>Cosmic Charlie, like on 5/30/69?)